Medical imaging apparatus, program installable in medical imaging apparatus, and medical imaging method

A medical imaging method comprising:

• a cardiac lumen region identifying step of identifying a cardiac lumen region from a medical image including a heart region;
• a myocardium identifying step of identifying a face of a myocardium region obtained by extending a face of the cardiac lumen region, identified in the cardiac lumen region identifying step, by a certain distance at a time toward a myocardium side;
• and
• a generating step of generating a color-coded image in which the face of the myocardium region, identified in the myocardium identifying step, is colored in colors according to signal values of the medical image corresponding to positions on the face of the myocardium region.

A medical imaging apparatus comprising:

• a central processing unit;
• a memory storing a program including a group of instructions for causing the central processing unit to execute a process, the process including:
• a first process of identifying a cardiac lumen region from a medical image including a heart region;
• a second process of identifying a face of a myocardium region obtained by extending a face of the cardiac lumen region, identified by the first process, by a certain distance toward a myocardium side;
• and
• a third process of generating a color-coded image in which the face of the myocardium region, identified by the second process, is colored in colors according to signal values of the medical image corresponding to positions on the face of the myocardium region.

A medical imaging system comprising:

• a cardiac lumen region identifying unit configured to identify a cardiac lumen region from a medical image including a heart region;
• a myocardium identifying unit configured to identify a face of a myocardium region obtained by extending a face of the cardiac lumen region, identified by the cardiac lumen region identifying unit, by a certain distance at a time toward a myocardium side;
• and
• a generating unit configured to generate a color-coded image in which the face of the myocardium region, identified by the myocardium identifying unit, is colored in colors according to signal values of the medical image corresponding to positions on the face of the myocardium region.